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Brad Meltzer's Decoded: The President's Secret Inner Circle (S1, E8) | Full Episode | History — Transcript

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0:00[Music]
0:01what if i were to tell you that the
0:02commander-in-chief of the united states
0:05had an inner circle of trusted spies
0:07working just for him
0:09well in 1778 such aspiring was
0:12established by major benjamin talmadge
0:14who was made up of mostly ordinary
0:16people the group played a crucial role
0:18in winning the revolutionary war
0:20by providing critical intelligence about
0:22the british and helping to expose the
0:24most
0:25infamous traitor in american history
0:27they were called
0:28the culpa ring they were at the cutting
0:30edge of espionage for their day using
0:32invisible ink
0:33and even publishing coded messages and
0:35newspapers
0:36these guys were so secretive none of
0:38them even knew who the other members
0:40were
0:41in fact americans didn't even know there
0:43was a cop ring until the 1930s
0:45there's been a lot of speculation about
0:47the first american spy ring
0:49this time i know their story and when it
0:51comes to the greatest spy master in the
0:53united states
0:54the man who created what led to the cia
0:57you won't believe
0:58who he is
1:00[Music]
1:02i'm brad meltzer i've spent my life
1:04collecting stories
1:07the best includes signs symbols and
1:09codes
1:10secret meanings that are hidden in plain
1:12sight
1:14some have become the basis for my novels
1:16but i've only scratched the surface of
1:17what's out there
1:19and now history has given me the
1:22resources
1:23to investigate the rest
1:26[Music]
1:28this is decoded
1:40[Music]
1:43if you're looking at the history of
1:45american espionage and the history
1:47of spy rings in this country where else
1:50would somebody go
1:51but the cia oh my god i can't imagine
1:54what brad had to go through to get us in
1:55here
1:56uh he must know someone who knows
1:58someone
1:59first time i've ever been here no
2:01experience like this i've been all over
2:02the world in the military but this is
2:04the first time at the cia headquarters
2:05so i'm really excited about
2:07just as a place most people don't get to
2:09go
2:12most people think that the need for a
2:13spy organization grew out of the
2:15desperation of world war ii
2:17but it's even older than that the
2:19culprit grew out of the need for
2:20intelligence about the british
2:22stronghold in new york city
2:24and the group itself remained unknown to
2:26history for more than a century
2:28but their practices were used in the
2:30design for the cia
2:31and their predecessors the office of
2:33strategic services or the oss
2:36the origins of u.s intelligence dates to
2:39the founding of the republic in a sense
2:41espionage is as american as cherry pie
2:44[Music]
2:48to understand where the cia came from we
2:51still
2:52in our training courses go all the way
2:54back to the american revolution
2:56and really the first spy in
2:59u.s history nathan hale and here he is
3:03ready to say i only have but one life to
3:06lose for my country nathan hale was a 20
3:10year old captain in the continental army
3:12when he volunteered to sneak across
3:14enemy lines and spy on the british
3:16unfortunately hale was a terrible spy he
3:19was captured and the brits executed him
3:22just before he died he uttered that
3:23famous line i only regret that i have
3:25but one life to lose for my country
3:27the thing is some historians say hale
3:30never said it
3:30it was a line from a popular play back
3:32then and the statue of him in front of
3:34cia headquarters
3:36when william casey took over the cia it
3:38drove him crazy that there was a nathan
3:40hale statue there
3:41nathan hale was the spy who failed in
3:44casey's eyes
3:45the statue should have been a member of
3:47the culprit
3:50what happened after nathan hale's demise
3:52the continental army
3:53very quickly develops an amazing array
3:57of techniques
3:58involving deceptions and double agents
4:01and phony troop movements and a very
4:03sophisticated network
4:05of agents based in new york city and
4:07further out on long island
4:09so you're talking about the very origins
4:12of american espionage
4:14exactly because it's so elaborate
4:16involves a lot of tradecraft techniques
4:18and technologies probably best if we
4:20head inside to the cia museum
4:23and we can talk about it and show you
4:24some of the capabilities that the
4:26continental army was using
4:28way back when so you've got a museum
4:30right here at the cia
4:31we call it the best museum you've never
4:33seen
4:34we've got a great museum we're just not
4:36going to show you anything okay
4:43[Music]
4:48the cia museum has a great collection of
4:51tradecraft devices
4:52that we and other services have used
4:55throughout our history
4:56to encode and encrypt and conceal our
4:59writing
5:00[Music]
5:01and those are techniques that though
5:02they sound really modern and
5:04sophisticated
5:04we can see being used back in the day of
5:07the culprit ring
5:08much of the information was written in
5:10code and cipher
5:12and concealed with invisible ink or
5:14sympathetic stain as they called it back
5:16then
5:17here's how the copa ring actually worked
5:19members in new york city reported their
5:21information to an operative who was
5:23called culper
5:24jr that information was then passed to a
5:26member from long island
5:28who came to town to get supplies for his
5:30tavern and when he got home
5:31he passed the information to another
5:33member whose code name was culper senior
5:36and he'd then decide what information
5:38was important and pass it on to a fourth
5:40member
5:41who would paddle across long island
5:43sound to connecticut
5:44where the army was holed up after losing
5:46new york to the british
5:47from 1778 to 1781 this was how top
5:51secret information was relayed back and
5:53forth
5:54they were volunteers and then and this
5:56is a key part to the ring
5:58nobody knows entirely who everyone is
6:02and how it's all working so if one guy's
6:04caught no matter what they do to him
6:06he can't possibly exactly it's all part
6:08of being able to keep the ring
6:10completely secure is there an example
6:12you can give us of where
6:13this ring actually had some success
6:16in 1780 there are clear indications that
6:19the british are mobilizing
6:21an attack force to greet an incoming
6:24contingent of french troops now this is
6:26only two years into the alliance and the
6:28french had been
6:29stalwart friends of ours but a military
6:31a disaster like that could have
6:33got them thinking a little bit
6:34differently about the long term because
6:36of information coming from
6:38culper jr the continental army gets this
6:41news
6:41it sends out messages through known
6:44british agents
6:45that washington was going to attack new
6:47york city
6:48that disinformation got to the british
6:50commander
6:51he stops in mid-stride turns the whole
6:55army
6:55back to new york city to counter-attack
6:58against
6:59a continental army that isn't there that
7:01isn't coming at all
7:02and the french troops arrive in newport
7:04several thousand of them
7:06untouched the members of the culprit
7:08were not men who looked for glory
7:10these were ordinary civilians they met
7:12in bars
7:13alleys and secret locations all around
7:15new york to pass
7:16information that was essential to the
7:18americans winning the war
7:19among these places was the area around
7:21what is now rivington street in lower
7:23manhattan
7:24buddies there now to find out more about
7:26the successes
7:27of the culpa ring
7:31[Music]
7:38i suggested we meet here on rivington
7:40street that's named after
7:42this great spy that nobody in new york
7:45city knew was a spy during the
7:47revolution
7:51rivington knew everybody inside the
7:54culpa ring
7:55he worked and owned rivington's royal
7:58gazette
7:59of a very pro-british newspaper which
8:02gathered news from all the loyalists and
8:04the british officers etc
8:06and put it in the paper where washington
8:10and his officers could interpret
8:12it and figure out what was going on talk
8:14about hidden in plain sight
8:16spy coded information going out in the
8:18public newspaper
8:20the british were completely fooled the
8:23key to the war was control of the hudson
8:25river and fort west point
8:26which was perched on the west bank as
8:29long as we had that it meant the british
8:31only controlled half the river
8:33and this was key because if they were
8:34able to seize the west bank
8:36they could divide new england from the
8:38southern colonies and choke our supply
8:40lines
8:41west point was also strategic because it
8:43was situated at an s curve in the river
8:45boats had to slow down to pass the area
8:48and that meant
8:48enemy ships were particularly
8:50susceptible to attacks there
8:52so the british knew to win the war they
8:54had to take west point
8:56sounds like you're saying that west
8:57point was the key to america's
9:00future i don't think that's any
9:01exaggeration the
9:03british had tried to fight their way up
9:04a few times before they had ships all
9:06over the river but
9:08it was there was a chain across it for
9:10one thing that would have stopped any
9:12british ship from getting near west
9:13point
9:14a physical chain across the river chain
9:16from constitution island
9:18to the west point shore so you needed a
9:21serious pass
9:22to get up the river oh you needed a
9:24total pass to get past the river and it
9:26could only come from the commanding
9:28officer at west point
9:29who happened to be benedict arnold
9:33the greatest hero of the revolution up
9:35to that time
9:36so what exactly happened with benedict
9:38arnold benedict arnold is seven years
9:41behind in his pay
9:43and it all added up to him saying i've
9:46had enough
9:47i'm going to get my money and he began
9:49writing
9:50coded messages to the british in new
9:54york city
9:55you know you're the best at something
9:56when your name becomes synonymous with
9:58it
9:58and benedict arnold quite simply means
10:00traitor but that wasn't always the case
10:03at one point
10:04benedict arnold was the greatest hero
10:06our country had ever known
10:07the problem was we were fighting a
10:09guerrilla war and money was sparse
10:11this gave the british just the opening
10:13they were looking for
10:15arnold's plan was to sell
10:18west point to the british
10:21in exchange for twenty thousand pounds a
10:23fortune at the time
10:25he was going to tip off the british at
10:28the right moment to come up the hudson
10:30when washington
10:31lafayette and all the american french
10:34generals were at west point
10:36arnold would then very lightly defend
10:38the fort and then surrender it along
10:40with washington
10:41and all the generals and the war would
10:43be over if benedict arnold had succeeded
10:46in his plan the american revolution
10:49would have collapsed
10:50there would be no independent nation
10:52[Music]
10:54so how exactly was benedict arnold
10:56exposed
10:57the culprit spy ring was putting
10:59together what was going on
11:02through a year and a half of
11:04intelligence gathering
11:06that a high-ranking american officer was
11:09about to go over
11:10that it had to be benedict arnold as far
11:14as we can tell
11:16the culprit spy ring intercepted
11:19coded messages sent by benedict arnold
11:22to john andre the head of british
11:25intelligence
11:26as brilliant as arnold was it turned out
11:28he was no match for
11:29ordinary american citizens how did john
11:32andre
11:33finally get busted he accidentally got
11:36caught by three fellows
11:38who thought he had nice boots and maybe
11:40had some money
11:41the men who captured andre turned him
11:43over to
11:45a subordinate a man underneath arnold
11:47who was just going to send him to arnold
11:50and then arnold would be in the clear
11:52instead
11:53benjamin talmadge head of the culprit
11:56spy ring
11:57was the next man to see john andre on
12:00his way to west point and said
12:02here's our man did benjamin talmadge get
12:05andre to confess yes when john andre
12:09admitted to talmage that he was on a
12:13spying mission
12:14talmage sent the documents found
12:18in andre's boots to west point
12:21and arnold saw them didn't even wait to
12:25kiss his wife goodbye
12:26ran down to the river with two pistols
12:29and ordered his
12:30his guards to row him down the hudson
12:33to the nearest british ship he went to
12:36new york
12:36and it immediately started rounding up
12:39the members of the culprit ring he got a
12:41few
12:41he got a few but the rest went into
12:44hiding
12:45spies in hiding i like it
12:48the culpa ring is without question the
12:50predecessor of both the oss and the cia
12:53but what amazes me most is just how
12:56successful the culprit was
12:57to us winning the revolution you have to
13:00remember
13:00nobody back then truly knew who was
13:02loyal to the crown and who was loyal to
13:04george washington new york city like
13:06today was filled with people who were
13:08playing all the angles
13:09so knowing who to trust was paramount
13:12[Music]
13:15the adage all is fair in love and war
13:18was coined in 1850 by an english writer
13:20but it was just as fitting in
13:22revolutionary america
13:23by 1778 the colonies have lost control
13:26in new york city to the british
13:28and they're holed up in connecticut
13:29trying desperately to maintain
13:31access to the port of new york the
13:33americans know that their only chance to
13:35retake the island of manhattan is if
13:37they get better intelligence
13:38so major benjamin talmage helps create a
13:40network of civilian spies
13:42known as the culpa ring to help provide
13:44insight into the british plans
13:46the ring operates in and around new york
13:49where buddy mac and scott are headed
13:50right now
13:53[Music]
13:56good morning hi we're expecting a
13:59package for 1410
14:00for 14 10 my pleasure
14:05thank you
14:08[Applause]
14:13it's the advanced copy of his new book
14:16does he want us to read it i
14:17i don't know is it free
14:21what's he doing he's got a blank piece
14:23of paper in here this has got to be more
14:24than a shameless self-promotion for the
14:26book
14:26okay there's nothing on here yeah there
14:28is yeah there is because you can see a
14:30tiny mark
14:31like it's invisible yeah pink or
14:33something that's not helpful
14:34mac how would you check if there's
14:36something on there well the best way to
14:37speed up a chemical reaction is heat
14:39all right who's got some matches
14:45oh he included matches yep okay nice
14:48god i hope we don't set off any alarms
14:49in here do it just like that okay hold
14:52it there
14:55nothing nothing's happening i like the
14:59intrigue though yeah
15:01oh whoa it's working
15:04wow look at this
15:09who was the greatest american
15:13spy master of all time
15:17who was the greatest american spymaster
15:20of all time
15:23no idea cold war yeah i would go cold
15:25war were there spies in uh world war one
15:28yeah i think so yeah well okay there
15:30were spies
15:31got a little dedication for us go to 54
15:35pearl street new york new york to find
15:37the answer
15:39okay okay so we gotta go let's head over
15:41there
15:43keep the matches god knows what else
15:44he's gonna do
15:46[Music]
15:49i'm sending the guys to francis tavern
15:51which is where the original idea for the
15:53culprit may have first been discussed
15:55it's also the place where president
15:57george washington gave the nation's
15:58first farewell address
16:00when he decided that two terms in office
16:02were enough
16:03buddy mack and scott are going to meet
16:04with someone who knows more about the
16:06culprit's methods than anyone else in
16:08history
16:09and let me promise you there'll be no
16:11more product placement
16:13except for the giant porsche the guys
16:15drive around in
16:24brad told me to expect you and the
16:26answer to his question
16:28is written between the lines
16:34we better just fire it up this is how
16:37the culprit spy ring
16:39used invisible ink to communicate with
16:42oh check it out george washington
16:46how was that come on he's the first
16:48founding father
16:50we think of george washington as an
16:52honest noble gentleman
16:54for somebody who never told the lie he
16:56stretched the truth a lot
16:58you're telling us he was a spy he was a
17:00spy master
17:02[Music]
17:03while major talmage organized the
17:05culprit he did so at the direction of
17:07general george washington
17:09and while many remember washington for
17:11his honesty the future president
17:13knew the value of covert info better
17:15than anyone
17:16washington had lost new york city to the
17:18british in 1776
17:20but he had loyal citizens living in the
17:21city regular ordinary people
17:24who were willing to provide details of
17:25the plans of the entrenched redcoats
17:28that's who george washington relied on
17:30and the culprit was crucial to
17:31washington's plan to take back the key
17:33port in new york
17:34to do it to pass those messages it was
17:36dangerous so the ring devised ways to
17:39move their secrets in plain sight
17:41washington's favorite method was to use
17:43white or invisible ink
17:45and he'd physically write between the
17:46lines of a normal letter
17:48which is where we get the same read
17:50between the lines
17:51he called it his sympathetic stain which
17:53is a horrible name
17:54but it was made using parasulfate and
17:56water it was a chemical process
17:58you write in one chemical called the
18:00agent then the reader of the letter
18:02paints it with another chemical
18:03the reagent that way you can't just
18:06crack it with a match
18:07the solution was supplied by dr james j
18:10and let me tell you
18:11these guys knew what they were doing to
18:13this day
18:14the fbi and cia use invisible ink
18:16messages
18:17that are based on george washington's
18:19method
18:20he set up many spy rings and the
18:22culprits were one of the first
18:24wow and they used invisible ink to
18:27communicate
18:28so did they keep records of how to
18:30decode this stuff
18:31here's the copy of nicolper's actual
18:34code book
18:36invisible ink wasn't the only code used
18:38by the culprit
18:39major talmadge came up with a series of
18:41other codes that were all listed in his
18:43code book
18:44only four copies of the book were
18:46produced talmadge had one copy for
18:48himself
18:49he gave general george washington
18:51another and the culprit leaders were
18:52given the remaining two
18:54the code was simple the most popular
18:56words at the time were all assigned a
18:58number
18:58the word signal was 600 the word lord
19:02was 3-5-1 the members of the ring were
19:05also given a similar code name
19:06general george washington's for example
19:08was number 711.
19:11so this was a very valuable document
19:13that they extremely
19:14die for yes and die over wow
19:18to think of the american revolution
19:21being this high tech
19:22is very strange to me it is this is the
19:25way it works
19:27what i want to know is how this group of
19:29people move information from place to
19:31place so quickly
19:32i mean when it comes to speed horses and
19:34sailboats aren't exactly like sending an
19:36email from a dummy hotmail
19:38account and most important whatever
19:40happened to the culprit
19:42did they die off or are they still out
19:44there today
19:45[Music]
19:48to this day it may be george
19:50washington's greatest magic trick
19:53creating a small covert spy ring made up
19:55of regular citizens who kept their
19:57secret for over 100 years
19:59these guys were the grandfather of the
20:01cia and it shows you how smart our
20:03founding fathers were
20:05the ring's existence was hidden for a
20:06century and a half and these guys were
20:09so
20:09far undercover that even death didn't
20:11reveal them
20:12the true identities of the culprit spies
20:14were hidden from the history books for
20:16150 years
20:18you see general washington didn't know
20:20who the spies were and the spies didn't
20:22know the real identities of each other
20:24but they were eventually discovered mack
20:26and scott are in the east hampton
20:28library to find out how
20:34[Music]
20:37gina scott and i are trying to find out
20:39everything we can about the culpr spy
20:40ring
20:41and it's hard to find these guys
20:42identities because they were so well
20:44protected it seems like they were even
20:46protected after their death so how were
20:48they discovered eventually
20:49eventually the identities were
20:51discovered
20:52through the diligence of morton penny
20:54packer
20:57mr penny packer was a local historian
20:59here in the east hampton area
21:02and he mainly collected information
21:04having to do
21:05with long island history he was going
21:07through a collection of papers that were
21:09discovered in the robert townsend family
21:11home
21:12they found an old chest in the attic
21:16it was filled with singed letters old
21:19documents
21:20things of that nature this is very
21:22exciting to mr penny packer
21:24because he discovered a possible link to
21:26the identities of
21:27the members of the culprit spy ring
21:32how do you link it to the culprit spy
21:33ring they actually compared robert
21:35townsend's letters that had been found
21:37in the george washington collection
21:40they put them side by side and they were
21:41able to analyze the handwriting that way
21:44and they discovered that without a doubt
21:46these were the same people
21:48so the letters that george washington
21:49had they knew were cult perspiring
21:51letters
21:52and they compared it to the towns and
21:53letters and they're the same guy yes
21:55that's correct george washington himself
21:58did not even know the identity
22:00of the members of this spy ring and then
22:02here we have somebody around the 1930s
22:04who finds some documents in an attic and
22:06is able to compare them and find out
22:09these are the people that were the
22:10members of the call perspiring
22:12it's just incredible who was townsend in
22:14the culprit spyring
22:16he was known as culper junior uh-huh
22:19that is culprit jr
22:22i actually have some examples here of
22:25books that were kept by robert townsend
22:27himself these are original documents
22:29they're not copies
22:30they weren't fabricated these are his
22:33actual account books
22:34wow look at this we can't touch this
22:36right
22:38i'm not being careful being careful
22:40touch with your eyes
22:41that handwriting is amazing the minute
22:43she told me i couldn't touch the book
22:45all i wanted to do was touch that book i
22:47wasn't even looking at what was in it
22:49[Music]
22:51so what's the significance in learning
22:52so long after the revolutionary war who
22:54these people
22:55were i think it changes our perception
22:58of history
22:59where we thought that we just had these
23:01lone agents that were spies
23:03going into enemy lines and gathering
23:05information
23:06now we discover that there was an
23:08intelligent system of people
23:10well what's interesting too is when you
23:11look at it where we are today
23:13uh especially in the intelligence
23:15community you know you look back at this
23:16and see this may be where it really all
23:18started
23:18possibly yes the culprit helped
23:22uncover the plot by america's greatest
23:24traitor benedict arnold
23:25to betray his country but what i want to
23:27know is what happened to them
23:29and is there a chance they still exist
23:32[Music]
23:34today
23:38buddy mac and scott are headed to the
23:40culprit's base of operations on long
23:42island
23:42to see if they can find out more
23:46washington had determined after the
23:47battle of new york he couldn't get stuff
23:49through
23:50westchester county because there were
23:51too many british around there
23:53so he came way out here
23:55[Music]
23:59nobody would ever suspect that they'd be
24:01transferring information across the
24:02sound
24:03from here and that's the reason they
24:04picked this area this was a spot from
24:06which they
24:07disseminated the messages not very
24:09populated at the time
24:10five houses oh wow wow so that's
24:13probably this was one of them
24:14the house behind you was built by
24:16phillips row in 1755 he became a member
24:19of aspiring
24:21and his brother nathaniel rowe and they
24:23were the ones picked up and delivered
24:25the messages
24:27austin rowe used to ride in once a week
24:29on his horse to new york city
24:32pick up the information that was
24:33gathered in the city bring it out here
24:36phillips row and his brother nathaniel
24:38roll
24:39what was their relation to austin rose
24:41they were cousins
24:42[Music]
24:44and these gentlemen would deliver the
24:47information
24:48to caleb brewster who used to run across
24:50the sound
24:51once a week in his whale boat and they
24:53would always come into a different cove
24:56and pick up the information and he would
24:58deliver it back
25:00to connecticut but it's a long road 12
25:02miles
25:03and the sound was laced with british
25:06ships
25:07so you had to be stealthy and careful
25:09[Music]
25:10amazing so we're talking about riding on
25:13horseback from here in setocca
25:1455 miles to new york city and returning
25:17here
25:18with a message that caleb brewster who
25:21would row
25:21physically across the long island sound
25:23of connecticut to deliver to benjamin
25:26talmadge
25:26yes right spying is not nearly as
25:28athletic now
25:30incidentally with respect to whale boats
25:32i think it might be of interest to you
25:34people to see what one looked like
25:36[Music]
25:41just imagine that your captain bruce are
25:43coming across the sound in this
25:45with maybe a dozen guys rowing six on
25:48each side
25:49and the storms on the sound can come up
25:52very quickly
25:53and there's not much freeboard on this
25:55boat must have been very dangerous
25:57the british would have seen them very
25:58easily they've been sitting ducks
26:00and i think the guys were pretty pretty
26:02brave to do this
26:04tough tough yeah that's the word tough
26:10these guys are amazing they ride 110
26:12miles round trip to gather the
26:14information
26:15and then they rode 24 miles across long
26:18island sound to deliver it
26:19forget the ironman triathlon this was
26:22true endurance the thing i'm most
26:24impressed by is that they're doing it
26:25with the british
26:26everywhere all around them these guys
26:28know if they're caught they're going to
26:29be shot on site
26:31so one thing they did was try to have
26:33codes inside codes
26:34inside codes some of them were literally
26:36hidden
26:37right in front of everyone's faces
26:41this is a typical north york cove where
26:43caleb brewster would have come in
26:46pick up his message now you see what
26:48looks like a clothesline over there
26:51you see anything unusual about this
26:53clothesline
26:55nope it's actually a coded message
27:00yeah it's a quoted message you mean to
27:02tell me that there's
27:04crucial information in here that the
27:06people of citaken would know
27:08absolutely now this was anna strong's
27:10clothesline and anna hung the petticoats
27:12to help
27:13culper senior in the early days and
27:15later the roe brothers
27:16what did the handkerchiefs and the
27:17petticoat signify the petticoat
27:19signifies that
27:20caleb brewster had come in and the
27:23number of handkerchiefs told
27:24which of the many coves he came into so
27:27caleb brewster's here and he's in the
27:28fourth coat
27:29that's right he's in the fourth cold
27:31they wouldn't have suspected her at all
27:33would they have
27:33no because she was just a woman by
27:36herself
27:36but she furthered the cause all the
27:39while just doing her laundry
27:40yes innocently doing the laundry nobody
27:43would suspect her or anything
27:44[Music]
27:47one of the little-known stories about
27:48the culprit is that there were a great
27:50many women
27:51who helped its cause and think about it
27:53women had the perfect cover story
27:55because back then
27:56no one expected they'd be involved in
27:58something that was so nefarious
28:00anna strong and the other female members
28:02of the culprit led the way for some of
28:04the most successful female spies of all
28:06time
28:07among the most well-known was mata hari
28:09who spied for the germans during world
28:11war one
28:12and julia child one of my heroes who
28:14believe it or not
28:15spied on the nazis during world war ii
28:19now one of the most famous spy of all
28:22was one one under the name of agent 355
28:24there are some historians who think 355
28:28was simply a number
28:29for a female so the whole story got a
28:32little twisted
28:33so 355 may or may not have existed
28:37depends upon which historian you want to
28:38listen to
28:42i studied them for two years and the
28:44copa ring still surprises me
28:46these people were the precursor of the
28:48cia the first civilian spy agency in our
28:51history
28:52they helped foil the plan by benedict
28:54arnold that would have allowed the
28:55british to win the war
28:56and they're one of the first to treat
28:57women as true spy equals
29:00and one of the best parts of the story
29:01there's still major debate about agent
29:03355's identity
29:05or even if she was real it seems like
29:07the trail has gone cold with agent 355
29:09but the question remains
29:11did the ring die with her or is it still
29:13in existence today
29:18the culpriting one of the greatest
29:20secret creations of george washington
29:22was lost to history for more than a
29:24century and a half
29:26it wasn't until the 1930s that this
29:28crucial part of american history
29:30was actually found again
29:44yeah absolutely we think we cracked it
29:47yeah tell me what you got
29:48well the culpa ring uncovered benedict
29:51arnold's
29:52nasty plot to hand over west point and
29:55helped us win the american revolution we
29:57couldn't have done it without them now
29:58you see my obsession
30:00with the culprit yes right yes unwritten
30:02moment of american history and benjamin
30:04talmadge
30:05and his group bring us to a point that
30:08we would
30:08otherwise not been at absolutely okay
30:10you found that piece
30:12what about agent 355 well we're still
30:16not sure brad because
30:17we're being told by some that it was
30:19just a term a spy term for
30:21lady we saw that in the code book
30:23exactly and then we're also hearing that
30:25it was a specific
30:26woman who had a lot to do with this you
30:29know there are people out there who will
30:30say she's absolutely
30:32fake she's a myth she's an amalgam but
30:34there
30:35are people who insist that 355 is a real
30:39person
30:39that she actually saved us that she
30:41actually did stuff for us that no one
30:42knows who she is
30:44and i found a woman who's convinced of
30:47that
30:48she's someone who has studied her for
30:50years can tell you exactly what she did
30:52for american history
30:53i don't know if i believe her and if
30:56she's right
30:57i want to know who this woman really is
30:59that we owe a great deal of thanks to
31:01i want her to be right
31:04i wanna listen i wanna be right too and
31:06what i wanna know about her
31:08are my daughter yeah i want my daughter
31:11to have that hero so
31:18behind us here is west point which was
31:21the american stronghold
31:22and it would have kept the british from
31:24moving up the hudson river
31:29west point as you can kind of see kind
31:31of commands control of the hudson river
31:33here
31:34it's really central to any traffic up
31:36and down
31:37and it really kind of limits traffic
31:38from going further north
31:41if you were kind of stopped at west
31:42point you you couldn't really continue
31:44right and during the american revolution
31:47everyone kind of recognized that this
31:48was the thing that was keeping the
31:49british from going further up the hudson
31:51river
31:52as we know benedict arnold was engaged
31:54in a plot to turn
31:56over west point to the british all they
31:58had to do was meet his price
32:00his main contact on the british side was
32:02a man named major andre
32:04who can we just say is either the best
32:06or worst dressed
32:07ghost of all time some say the culpa
32:09ring
32:10had a spy in andre's camp so when he
32:12travels to west point to negotiate with
32:14arnold
32:15the head of the culprit aspiring major
32:17talmadge knows that andre is coming
32:22and this was stopped by a spy known as
32:24agent 355
32:26and she was a female culprit spy she was
32:29able to
32:30stop benedict arnold by intercepting the
32:34correspondence in major andre's quarters
32:37how did she get the information how did
32:38she get into his quarters repeatedly
32:42well we don't know exactly because good
32:44spies don't get caught
32:46but we do know 355 was
32:50a female member of the culprit ring
32:53and she was probably major andre's
32:56girlfriend
32:57so she may have even been sleeping with
32:58the enemy
33:00wow what's the one rule of every james
33:04bond movie
33:05you know it never trust the girl the
33:08good thing for us
33:09andre had never seen james bond so what
33:12do we actually know about agent 355
33:15we know just from her name that she was
33:17both female
33:19and from the upper class because the
33:21word lady implied that somebody
33:23was kind of an elite you weren't the
33:25washer woman you weren't just
33:27a woman you were a lady somebody of
33:28brady so
33:30we know that she was probably well
33:32connected because of that we also know
33:34that she probably was one of major
33:37andre's girlfriends he
33:38had a history of always looking to marry
33:40up and make a name for himself in the
33:41colonies he was always looking for
33:42advancement
33:43there's a word for that you date
33:46he was looking to move up he was he was
33:48definitely looking to make his fortune
33:50and move up
33:52the most amazing part of the story of
33:54agent 355 to me is that
33:57no one suspected her you know that
33:59you've got that he might have had this
34:00woman
34:01in his office in his life and telling
34:03her secrets letting her over here
34:05but but since he thought women had no
34:07political opinions and no vested
34:09interest
34:09would just would not not suspect her i
34:13mean
34:13it it's to me it speaks to the power of
34:15being underestimated
34:17and he probably didn't think she was one
34:18bit interested in politics well women
34:20women were assumed to have the same
34:21political views as their fathers or
34:23spouses
34:24so it would have been very easy for a
34:25patriotic woman to be assumed to have
34:27the same political views as her father
34:30andrea we've heard that 355 was just a
34:33code word for a lady that really wasn't
34:35a person but
34:35obviously you think otherwise what proof
34:37do you have of that well first of all
34:38there's a letter that specifically
34:40refers to
34:41a lady working with the ray that's
34:43that's august 15 1779
34:45and woodhull talks about the fact that
34:47she's going to start working with the
34:48ring shortly
34:49and that's culprit senior culprit senior
34:51yes there's a point in the culprit
34:52correspondence
34:53where they suddenly are reporting really
34:56really good
34:57information they go from not reporting
34:59anything of use it's all old
35:01to suddenly right after 355 as mentioned
35:05they're getting the innermost secrets of
35:07the british army they're reporting
35:08practically black ops they're reporting
35:10a counterfeiting operation
35:12things that only could have come from
35:13british headquarters so what information
35:15about the plot did she discover
35:17well she definitely discovered that um
35:20arnold planned to betray west point
35:25there was there was a letter with
35:27arnold's name in the margin
35:29of andre's correspondence in june of
35:311780
35:32so that's months of correspondence that
35:34are being intercepted
35:36at the point that um andre was
35:39intercepted
35:39andre had just met with arnold they had
35:41agreed that arnold was going to
35:44um sell west point and andre was going
35:47back to new york
35:48he's met by a group of three seemingly
35:51random
35:52guys they're highwaymen they're
35:53militiamen
35:55so these three guys stop him and they're
35:57looking to rob him
35:58so he doesn't seem to have any money and
36:00they said hey
36:01he doesn't have any money let's see if
36:03we can get a prize off of this guy
36:05wow so they decide to take him to the
36:07local american commander commander
36:08jameson
36:09unfortunately he's kind of big on
36:12protocol and he has no idea what's going
36:14on with the the culprit spies
36:16so he sends word to benedict arnold
36:19because there's a pass from benedict
36:20arnold and he says
36:21gee what's going on benedict arnold fill
36:23me in
36:24tallmadge finds out what's going on
36:26though he interrupts and
36:27he says no no we gotta send word to
36:29washington jameson compromised he sent
36:31one rider to washington who was on the
36:34move and another rider to the closer
36:36benedict arnold the rider to arnold
36:39left first so arnold got word and
36:41escaped
36:44so benedict arnold literally escapes by
36:46the skin of his teeth destroying his
36:48friendship with george washington
36:50history reports it is the only time
36:52anyone ever
36:53sees george washington break down and
36:56cry
36:57this was a betrayal by one of his best
36:58friends and with culpa ring information
37:00talmage almost had him but you know what
37:03washington does when it all calms down
37:05he sends the culprit after benedict
37:07arnold
37:08george washington american badass
37:12so in benedict arnold flees to new york
37:14and goes over to the british side
37:15his first assignment is to round up the
37:18members of the culpa ring
37:19this is one of the greatest unseen
37:21fights in u.s history
37:22but in the end arnold never really
37:24figures out what to do with his life and
37:26he certainly can't catch the copa ring
37:28so he goes back and forth from england
37:30to canada before eventually dying
37:32miserable
37:32in london but the biggest question
37:34remains whatever happened to the culprit
37:37and do they still exist in some form
37:40[Music]
37:44the culprit spiring was the first of its
37:46kind one of the best
37:48conceived by general george washington
37:50the all-civilian spy organization played
37:52a key role in the forming of our country
37:55the group was so secretive they didn't
37:56even know who each other were
37:58in fact washington himself didn't know
38:00all the members
38:01this allowed the organization to stay
38:03hidden for 150 years
38:06the first records of the ring appeared
38:08in 1930 when a series of letters were
38:10found detailing the group's operations
38:12the letters match unexplained
38:14correspondence from the estate of
38:16president washington himself
38:18through analysis and research the
38:19members of the initial ring were
38:21identified
38:22but no matter what we know of the
38:23culprit the role they played in
38:25america's independence
38:27can't be overstated as for agent 355
38:31some say that arnold caught this great
38:33spy though i'm actually not convinced
38:35she even existed either way though
38:36the legend of agent 355 becomes the
38:39story of an american hero in the truest
38:41sense
38:42someone who sacrifices everything and
38:44then goes unnoticed for the rest of
38:46history
38:48so is it fair to say that agent 355
38:52a lady in the culprit ring yes
38:55exposed benedict arnold's plot and saved
38:59the revolution yes definitely
39:03so whatever happened to 355. 355
39:06was captured by the british she was she
39:09was probably
39:10imprisoned so she was probably
39:12questioned by the british um because the
39:14culpa ring continued to operate there's
39:16no reason to think that she ever
39:17betrayed
39:18her fellow ring members and she died you
39:20think she died in prison i think she
39:21died in prison
39:22there's no reason to believe she was
39:23released she's really quite heroic
39:26what a sad ending too yeah it's a true
39:29american hero
39:30and she's completely forgotten
39:36it sounds like there is some pretty good
39:37evidence that agent 355 actually did
39:39exist
39:40it seems logical that somebody who was a
39:43girlfriend maybe who had some inside
39:45information would have had to have
39:47been responsible for this it doesn't
39:50surprise me at
39:50all that agent 355 could have been a
39:53woman
39:54i was really impressed that the copa
39:56ring was that sophisticated to
39:58use whatever means necessary to get the
40:01information
40:02that george washington needed i think in
40:05the context of the american revolution
40:08anything that needed to be done should
40:11be done
40:11i mean i mean if she was sleeping with
40:13the enemy
40:15and that's what it took if that won our
40:17revolution i'm grateful
40:24this has been great i mean we've we're
40:26standing here on the banks of the hudson
40:27river
40:28right across from west point where
40:30benedict arnold nearly
40:32sold out america and it's the kind of
40:35history that i love
40:36most because you say to yourself i had
40:39no
40:40idea i mean how and how did we have no
40:42idea how did we not learn about this in
40:43school the cult perspiring
40:45was absolutely crucial to beating the
40:47british
40:48and that's exactly the point it's not
40:49just did they exist we know they exist
40:52now right but it really seems to come
40:54down to this group
40:55and what they were able to accomplish
40:57that did it they weren't
40:58these highly trained operatives who
41:01we think of when we think of spies these
41:03were ordinary american people
41:05who happen to believe so much in the
41:07cause that they're willing to put their
41:09lives on the line
41:10and be part of this big big ring
41:13and think of just how committed they
41:14were to that because they had already
41:16seen
41:16their predecessor nathan hale hang
41:20yep they knew that and they did it
41:22anyway that's right
41:23it's unbelievable and the cool thing
41:24about this story is that
41:26the culpr spy ring about whom we knew
41:29virtually nothing
41:30are responsible for bringing down
41:32benedict arnold and changing the course
41:34of american history
41:35and agent 355 who we still don't know
41:38much about
41:39might have been the one feeding the
41:40culprit aspiring
41:42the information they needed to do that
41:44who else would have had access to that
41:45type of information but a girlfriend of
41:47a major
41:48and not been suspected for that long
41:50because women just weren't seen as
41:51political
41:52beings they wouldn't have thought that
41:54they had anything invested in the
41:55revolution which is crazy
41:57the pieces of the puzzle fit i think she
41:58existed i just don't not sure who she
42:00was
42:00and who would have guessed the spymaster
42:02was george washington i mean of all
42:03people we never
42:04thought that kind of thing about it it's
42:06the ultimate brains over brawn
42:08i mean the british were stronger they
42:10were bigger they america was outgunned
42:12but they out
42:12thought them and i love that part of it
42:14for the first time in our history
42:16we had an organized spy ring and really
42:20this is in my mind what led to the cia
42:22the fbi and everything we have today
42:24yeah it's the birth
42:25makes me kind of wonder whether
42:28there are embedded regular folks still
42:31today who are doing
42:32that work i'd almost say for sure i
42:34would absolutely
42:36absolutely the skies have opened we
42:39better get out of here and tell bradley
42:40we get drenched let's go talk to him
42:44the trail of the culprit dies out
42:46following the revolution
42:48and it seems that they ceased to operate
42:49around 1785
42:51at least as far as we know but let me
42:53tell you the greatest secret of all
42:55i think it's still around a few years
42:58ago i got a call from the department of
43:00homeland security asking me to come
43:02brainstorm different ways
43:03that terrorists can attack the united
43:05states they read my novels
43:07they saw my research and i was honored
43:09to be part of what they called the red
43:10cell team
43:12i kept the secret until they asked me to
43:13go public but the point is
43:15i was a regular civilian brought in to
43:17help our country
43:19just like the culpa ring even better
43:22last week
43:22when i was telling a former top national
43:24security agent about the culpa ring
43:26the phone went silent and he said to me
43:28you know there are rumors they're still
43:30here
43:31but the best legacy of the culprit is
43:33that it supports my core belief you see
43:36i believe ordinary people change the
43:38world i don't care where you went to
43:39school
43:40i don't care how much money you make i
43:42believe that regular people like the
43:43culpa ring
43:44is how the world gets changed don't ever
43:47forget history is a selection process
43:49most of us think that it chooses a
43:51moment and a person and it puts them
43:52together
43:53but history chooses each of us every
43:56single day
43:56and the only question is will you hear
43:59the call
44:15you

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